Page 17 of Legal Attraction
They hadn’t thought about that until it would have been too late. They hadn’t thought at all. And Ronan hadn’t talked about it. He hadn’t told his friends about either time he’d run into Muriel. He’d figured they would get worried that he had only made the situation worse and pissed her off more.
He was kind of worried that he had. She hadn’t even been able to look at him after...
Stone sighed. “And Ronan doesn’t have your charm, either, Si. You’re right. It would never work.”
“Want to bet on that?” Ronan asked.
Simon laughed again. “What—are you playing truth or dare right now?”
They’d played that game on the streets, daring each other to take stupid chances or tell the truth about the shitty lives they’d run away to escape. Ronan had always taken the dare. He intended to play that game with Muriel Sanz now.
He dared to try to get the truth out of her. “It’s a dirty job,” he said, “but someone’s got to do it.”
“I would make the sacrifice,” Stone said with a lustful sigh, “if I wasn’t just about to start this killer trial.”
“I can do it,” Trevor offered, and his blue eyes twinkled with lust. “I’d like to do The World’s Most Beautiful Woman.”
“No!” The shout surprised Ronan, especially since it had slipped through his own lips—just as some strange emotion coursed through him, tightening his stomach into knots and clenching his hands into fists. Was this jealousy?
It was something he’d never experienced. He had never been possessive of anyone before. Hell, he’d set up his friends with some of his exes in the past. Maybe that was the issue, though. He hadn’t had enough of Muriel Sanz yet.
“I know you think she’s a hellcat,” Trev said. “But I can handle myself. In fact, I kind of like it rough.” He chuckled.
And Ronan wanted to slug him. What the hell was wrong with him? These were his friends. He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “I will handle it,” he said. “I’ve already talked to her a couple of times since she turned me in.”
Trev leaned across the table and intently studied Ronan’s face.
“What?” he asked, unnerved.
“I’m looking for the claw marks.”
He touched his cheek.
And Trevor chuckled again. “She hit you.”
“I had it coming.”
“Oh, I’m sure you did,” Trev said. “So what makes you thinkyoucan handle her?”
He wasn’t sure that he could, but he damn well intended to try. “She’s my problem,” he said. “I’ve never had a problem I haven’t been able to handle.”
There was a sudden silence around the table. And they all glanced away from him like they had Simon when he’d been so certain that Bette wasn’t lying. They knew there was one problem he hadn’t been able to handle, not without running away: his parents.
But he wasn’t going to run away this time. He sighed. “Come on, guys, that was a long time ago. I can handle Muriel Sanz.” And he intended to put his hands all over her until she screamed again like she had in the elevator.
Or at least that was what he thought she’d done. He had to make sure he hadn’t dreamed it all.
“Just remember what you’re really after,” Simon advised. “You want her to withdraw her complaint to the bar.”
“And tell you where she got those documents,” Trevor added with a quick glance at Simon.
Before they could start arguing again, Ronan stood up from the conference table. “Challenge accepted,” he said, as he headed toward the door. But as he walked away, he realized Muriel Sanz might prove to be the biggest challenge of his life.
* * *
The doorbell pealed, making Muriel flinch. It had been ringing nonstop for days, ever since she’d received that ridiculous title that magazines made up to sell more issues. She wasn’t certain who even voted on these things. Her—The World’s Most Beautiful Woman?
Yeah, right.
